The Little Mermaid
by Burning Ice Phoenix
Summary: The -not-so- Little *Merman: The Story of a -somewhat- Selfish Merman and a -kind of- Stupid Rebel. Falling in love with a human is stupid and pointless, especially with one like that. But it doesn't matter, because Saruhiko will get what he wants.
1. The Merman Saves a Rebel

**ONE: The Merman Saves a Rebel**

Shit, how did everything end up like this? The yells and cries of men fighting each other could be heard on the cliff above. The fighting was moving, however, down along a path to the beach beneath the cliff. The clang of metal, the smell of blood, the dancing glow of fire reflected on the dark ocean, Saruhiko would've enjoyed it if it wasn't for the fact that he was holding an injured boy in his arms.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue as he pulled the boy with him behind a rock, further away from all the fighting. On normal occasions, he would be watching the battle from a safe distance in the water. He liked things like these-fighting and proving one's superiority. He would love to join them if it wasn't for the problem that he didn't have legs.

The boy in his arms shivered and brought Saruhiko's thoughts back to reality. Saruhiko was used to the water's temperature since he lived in the ocean, miles and miles away in the underwater kingdom. In fact, up here the water was warmer. With fires burning by the edge of the water, the ocean was heated up even further.

Still, he can't compare himself with a human. The boy shivered again and Saruhiko hugged him close. He knew that he couldn't leave the boy in the ocean for much longer. But those who were fighting were now on the beach and Saruhiko couldn't leave the boy to be trampled on the sand.

Saruhiko narrowed his eyes. He would have to swim to the other side of the peninsula. It should be safe there, he doubted that the fighting would move all the way over there. With that in mind, he started dragging the boy through the water. The boy was light, but the added water in his clothes and hair made him difficult to pull through the water.

"...Misaki," Saruhiko grumbled, "I'm not going to let you die."

* * *

The story begins from a few years back.

Once upon a time, there were citizens unhappy with their country. People began to whisper about the start of a revolution. The selfish king who did not care about his people only scoffed at them and refused to deal with the problem at hand.

Once upon a time, a king who ruled a seaside country was forced to step down and flee for his life. The war won, the leaders of the revolution began to reestablish the country. However, the two leaders of the revolution fell into disagreement and the country was once again split, this time in a civil war. The result was two factions that warred with each other for many years. Occasionally, they would come to a peace agreement, but those lasted at most ten years before it fell apart. They became recognized as two separate countries by the names of Homra and Scepter4.

Once upon a time, a boy walked a little too far from his mother and fell into the ocean.

The little boy screamed and yelled for his mother, but his mother was too far away. She had taken her son out for a picnic with friends and left their children to play with each other. They were playing a game of hide and seek when her son wandered too close to the cliffs and fell into the river, swept right into the ocean.

"Help!" he yelled between mouthfuls of water as he tried to fight the current. He flung his arms out to grab hold of something, anything! But he was too small, anything he managed to cling to, he was pushed away from in seconds.

It was only after he reached the ocean and was pushed under the surface of the water that he heard giggling. His head bobbed back above the water and the sound was gone. He was beginning to panic now. He was no longer pulled by the current, but he was scared- his feet didn't touch the ground!

"Help!" he yelled and he was underwater again. The water stung his eyes and he heard the giggling again. He struggled to get back to the surface, but he never learned to swim and the harder he tried to break the water surface, the more the water seemed to pull him back down.

"You look like you could use some help," as soon as he heard that, he felt two arms wrap around his waist and pull him to the ocean surface.

They broke the surface and he spent a couple of minutes spiting and sputtering sea water before the burning in his nose and the back of his throat became tolerable. The person who saved him was still holding him by the waist and they were slowly drifting towards the shore. He twisted backwards to try to get a glance at who had saved him.

It was another boy, one with dark hair and blue eyes. It reminded him of Scepter4 citizens. But he couldn't be, because this was Homra land and there was no reason for someone loyal to Scepter4 to save a child from Homra.

"Who are you?" he asked. The other boy looked at him, but didn't answer. They were getting closer to land and he could feel the tips of his toes touch the sand, "My name's Misaki Yata. Thanks for saving me."

The boy didn't answer right away, but when he opened his mouth, he asked, "Isn't Misaki a girl's name?"

"What was that?" Misaki yelled as he struggled in the other boy's grip, flailing about to try to hit him, preferably in the face. "I-It's a perfectly manly name!" his face heated up despite being in the cold ocean as he hung limply in defeat. This boy's grip was strong.

"I'm Saruhiko," the boy finally introduced himself. They were nearly at the shore now and Misaki could walk by himself. Oddly, Saruhiko continued to swim around him. "I can't really go much further than this," he said as he swam behind Misaki.

"Why not? You're not one of Scepter4, right? You're swimming freely here, you must be Homra, right?"

Saruhiko looked at him with a blank face, "Scepter4? Homra? What's that?"

"You don't know?" Misaki nearly screamed. With a grin, he unbuttoned the first few buttons of his dress shirt and pulled down the left side. There, tattooed on his chest right above his heart was a flame symbol, "Homra, it's the country I belong to!"

"Is...that so?" Saruhiko still sounded confused.

"You're not from around here, are you? If you don't know what Homra and Scepter4 are," Misaki asked as he rebuttoned his shirt and to walk to the shore. Saruhiko stayed where he was, "You're really not coming?"

"I can't," Saruhiko answered, there was hesitance written on his face, "...I'm not really supposed to be here."

"Why not?" Misaki asked again. As if to confirm, he also asked again, "You're not one of Scepter4, right?"

Saruhiko shook his head, "No, I'm not. But I'm not Homra either."

"That's fine," Misaki said with a grin, "We're not on bad terms with anyone aside from Scepter4! So if you're Silver or Gold or whatever other color, it'll be fine!"

"...Color?"

"You're not from any of those countries either? Geez, you must be from really far away... Ikebukuro, maybe?"

"The place I'm from is called-" Saruhiko made a sound that Misaki couldn't decipher.

"What?" Misaki asked and Saruhiko repeated it for him, but it was the same. He couldn't tell what he just said. It was a jumble of sounds and even when Misaki tried to mimic them, he found that he couldn't. "I've never heard of such a place."

Saruhiko shrugged. He couldn't tell Misaki any more than this.

"Hey, I'm sure you can come and play with me and my friends! As long as you're not one of those Scepter4 freaks, I'm sure no one would mind!"

Again, Saruhiko shook his head, "I can't. I have to go anyways."

Misaki frowned. He was still at the age where he could get whatever he wanted just by asking a few times. Being told no, he threatened to cry and throw a tantrum.

"How about I come back tomorrow and we can play here again?" Saruhiko suggested before Misaki could begin crying.

"Yes, that would be perfect!" with a smile and a wave, Misaki turned around and ran to the shore. Halfway there, he heard a splash and when he turned around, Saruhiko was gone. For a split second, he thought he saw a fish tail disappearing into the ocean.

He waited to see if Saruhiko would come up for air, but he wasn't there anymore and Misaki guessed that he had swam far away. It didn't matter, he would see his new friend again the next day.

* * *

Saruhiko didn't understand the powers the people who lived by the edge of the ocean had. Some of them burned bright red and others held out a flash of blue. Those things didn't exist in his home. He was starting to understand the history of the land dwellers, though. It wasn't a subject that was taught extensively in school, but the sort of knowledge you had to gain by digging through the restricted section of the library.

Still, there was very little information about the land above them.

Saruhiko had finally made his way to the other side of the peninsula and pulled both him and Misaki onto the shore. It was no easy task, he didn't have feet to support him. For a while, Misaki laid still on the ground, but after a few minutes, he coughed and sputtered until he was wide awake again.

"What happened?" he gasped before turning to look to the person sitting to his side, "...Who's there?"

Before Saruhiko could answer, Misaki had drifted off to sleep again.

He was bleeding from several scrapes across his arms and shoulders, but he was going to live.

"Tsk," Saruhiko clicked his tongue as he leaned closer to Misaki and brushed wet hair out of the boy's face, "How many times am I going to have to save you before you learn better, Mi-sa-ki?"

The sounds of fighting were fading away. The outcome of the battle was about to be decided, but it didn't matter to Saruhiko. All that mattered to him was that the boy lying on the sand with him was still alive. He wished that they could stay this way forever. Here, it was so innocent and untainted like they were when they were children.

There were many problems, but one of them remained evident from the first time they met. Without a doubt, Misaki had long since forgot about the day Saruhiko first saved him. They only met once or twice afterwards and it was not enough for Misaki to notice. Saruhiko never left the ocean. He wasn't even supposed to be above the surface of the water. However, he broke the rules so he could catch a glimpse of Misaki.

Misaki would have never guessed that Saruhiko was a merman. Heck, Misaki probably never even fathomed that there would be an entire underwater kingdom next to their country. If there was one thing he learned from his studies about humans was that they were selfish and close-minded. All they cared about was fighting and winning and bragging.

So that day, Saruhiko thought he saw something different in Misaki. And he thought that maybe Misaki was an exception. That Misaki was innocent and completely untainted by the rest of humanity. Saruhiko thought he had it all figured out. He thought that Misaki would keep promises. But he was wrong. And by the time he realized that, it was already too late. Misaki had already become someone far more important to him.

* * *

"Yata-san! Where are you, Yata-san?" Rikio's voice resounded through the campgrounds as he searched for Homra's third in command.

"Shut up, Kamamoto-san," a boy who was sitting on the ground grumbled, "Some of us are trying to get some sleep after last night's battle. That Chihuahua's probably taking a dump somewhere."

"I haven't seen him since last night, Eric," Rikio explained, "I was hoping that someone has seen him before I bother Kusanagi-san about the numbers."

"I haven't seen him since last night either," Eric replied. He paused for a moment and scratched his head, "Um... I think he was fighting near Chitose, you should ask him."

"Ah, thanks, Eric!" Rikio grinned as he ran off to search for Chitose.

"That was nice of you," Kosuke, who had been sleeping next to Eric, mumbled.

"Hmph, well, we all have to look out for each other. Even if it's Chihuahua."

Kosuke nodded and ran his fingers through Eric's hair, "You should get some more rest then. You fought pretty violently last night."

"I did what I had to do to win the battle. It was better than disappearing like Chihuahua!"

Rikio found Chitose in his tent. He had a nasty gash across his back from fighting with Seri. The medics had just finished treating him and left him to rest. They tried to get Rikio to leave, but he insisted that it was an urgent matter. After a while of yelling and complaining, they finally let Rikio talk with Chitose.

"You're loud and scared the girls away," Chitose mumbled in disappointment from the make shift bed on the ground.

"Yo, Chitose, have you seen Yata-san?"

"No, I've been stuck here ever since I got back," he groaned in response.

"I meant last night. Eric said you were fighting with him nearby?"

Chitose thought for a moment. He remembered that he was hit by Seri before Misaki jumped in and started fighting with Seri in his stead. Scepter4's second in command of the army was extremely strong and probably even Misaki had trouble fighting her. "The last I saw of him was that he was fighting Seri while I was carried off. You might as well go ask Kusanagi-san since he does roll call."

When Rikio looked hesitant, he added, "You should just go now. Get it over with. You know he's only going to get madder if he finds out Yata-san's missing from someone other than his partner."

"R-Right, I'll go."

Izumo Kusanagi was sitting in the main tent of the campground. Their general, Mikoto Suoh, was taking a light nap in the back so he was left to do all the paper work and head count alone. He was annoyed, but there wasn't a point in trying to get Mikoto to do work. That man did what he wanted. It was a surprise that the Red King even got Mikoto to work as the head general for them. So when Kamamoto ran into the tent yelling about Misaki being missing, Izumo felt like he was ready to explode.

"Kusanagi-san! Has Yata-san reported in? No one's seen him since last night!"

"Kamamoto-san, stop yelling!" Izumo yelled and lifted the desk a few inches off the ground, threatening to flip it over.

"S-Sorry, Kusanagi-san... But really, I haven't seen Yata-san and I'm worried."

With a frown, Kusanagi began looking over the list of names, "If the vanguard decides to run away, I'll bring him back and pound him in the head."

"Chitose was the last to see him and said that he had been fighting with Seri! I'm a little worried."

"If Seri fought him seriously, yea, he'd be a goner," Kusanagi responded as he found Misaki's name on the list. They had brought back all the bodies from the battlefield and identified them so everyone should be accounted for- "Huh? You're right, he isn't marked down?"

Rikio paled and his mouth trembled, "S-So you mean he's..."

"No, we identified all the bodies found from last night's battle."

"There's no way Yata-san would desert us!" Rikio yelled, forgetting that Izumo had ordered him not to shout.

"...What's this about deserting?" Mikoto asked as he sat up from the bed in the back of the tent. He rubbed his eyes and looked directly at Rikio. Rikio froze, feeling as though he was a zebra being stared down by a lion. A good quarter of the Homra army had joined because Mikoto was the general, Rikio included. So, Rikio held a deep respect for him, but every now and then, he was reminded of why Mikoto was recruited as the general.

"Ah...ah," he was at a loss of words.

"The vanguard hasn't reported in and no one has seen him since last night on the battlefield."

"That's...Misaki, right?"

"Yea," Izumo nodded, "It would be nice to remember the names of your comrades..."

"I remember all of their faces, isn't that good enough?"

"You're just being lazy, aren't you?"

"Hmm..." Mikoto stood up and walked out of the tent, "Well, let's go look for him."

Rikio looked at Izumo with a worried face and Izumo smiled, "If Mikoto doesn't think Yata deserted us, no one does."

* * *

Misaki woke up to the sight of someone staring down at him. The sun was high in the sky and created a backlight against the person staring at him so he couldn't see their face. "Wh...at?" he mumbled as he lifted his arm to reach out to the person, "Who's there?"

And all of a sudden, the person was gone.

There was the sound of a splash, but as soon as Misaki blinked, there was no one around.

"Yata, is that you?" Rikio's voice came from above. Sitting up with a groan, Misaki looked up to see a few of his comrades standing on the cliff above him.

"Ye...a..." his throat hurt and his voice was hoarse, but he didn't have any heavy injuries. As he stood up, the rest of them slid down the cliff to join him.

"Yata, how'd you get here?"

"Um, I...I don't know," Yata mumbled as he rubbed his temples. Looking beyond Rikio, he saw that Izumo and Mikoto was here as well and his heart soared. Any thoughts of who had saved him or how he got here was blown out of his head. "M-Mikoto-san! You're here as well?"

Mikoto nodded.

"Ah...Ah, sorry, for making you...and everyone else worried," although he was apologetic, it was quite evident that he was happy that their general was worried enough to come look for him.

"Hmm," Mikoto nodded again and turned to walk away. Misaki continued to smile with a goofy look on his face.

"Come on, let's go. I want to hear the full details of what happened last night-"

"I don't remember what happened last night."

"Fine, what you do remember," Izumo continued as he wrapped an arm around Misaki to pull him along, "But let's just hurry back so we can ask Anna to fix you up."

Saruhiko watched Misaki leave with his companions from behind a rock. He looked bitterly at Mikoto. He hated the way Misaki looked at him. Those were the same looks that Saruhiko wanted Misaki to look at him with. But it never happened with him. And it never will because they were too different to begin with.

With one last glance at the four comrades before jumping back into the ocean. If they're too different, then he'll just have to change himself to be the same as Misaki.

* * *

**I wrote half of this on impulse while trying to figure out my physics hw. What even. :I Stupid plot bunnies.**

**I don't know what's up with me and fairy tales. I guess I've got a sudden urge to write fanfic retellings of them with my fav pairings :P  
**

**Anyways, this is the first time I wrote for the K fandom, I hope I didn't do too badly. I wasn't sure how a lot of them called each other, but I think most of them used last name? I wasn't going to add honorifics, but then having Misaki call Mikoto without -san felt too weird... I tried to use everyone's first names when outside of characters speaking, but Chitose's first name is "Yo"... and it felt really weird to refer to him as Yo.**

**Well, I hope you thought this first chapter was entertaining, thank you for reading! (:**


	2. A Somewhat Selfish Merman

**TWO: A Somewhat Selfish Merman**

Saruhiko's earliest memory was a pair of arms pushing him into the water. It was fuzzy, he couldn't remember much. Just the sight of bubbles and a twinge of fear.

* * *

The underwater kingdom was a beautiful place. It nested in a part of the ocean that was still untouched by human pollution. The continent above it, Shizume, was only beginning to industrialize and only a few of the countries there had factories of any sort. Anyways, they were on the other side of the continent and did not affect the world under the ocean. Of course, with that said, the civilians living there didn't know of what was happening either.

No, the biggest concern of all mermen was to not be seen by human eyes. That was the number one rule of their society. If there was one thing mermen understood about humans, it was that they were selfish, paranoid creatures. In the mermen's perspective, humans cannot get along with others, they fight and they waste, they only want to come out as the winners. Under that belief, the first king of Atlantis had declared that no merman or mermaid was to be allowed to talk or be seen by a human. He hoped that as long as the merpeople followed this rule, they won't be feared by humans and therefore hunted and killed.

Over time, of course, this rule was broken and altered and the merpeople were given exceptions. They were allowed to go above the surface, but not too frequently. There have even been stories that some mermaids and mermen found love on land. Those were just stories, of course, and Saruhiko never believed them. Because, it just wasn't possible. Not without strong magic. Only the King had that sort of magic. ...And, well, a few other whispered places as well, but Saruhiko wasn't _supposed_ to know about that.

The underwater kingdom was structured similar to the ones on land. They had a king which they all obeyed, then there were aristocrats, the middle class, and the poor. They all had their own jobs and currency. The king had his guards and the kingdom had an army. It was all very similar to Homra and Scepter4.

Saruhiko's place in this world was very strange. He wasn't exactly a prince, but somewhere along the line, he became something like one. He couldn't remember a lot about his childhood. He remember being shoved underwater, but that was it. Afterwards, he had been brought back to the palace and treated like a prince.

He was given the best food, the best clothing, the best everything, but he held no actual power. He never stayed by the king's side, but rather watched by the attendants. He didn't bother asking why he was given this treatment because he could already sense that no one was willing to tell him. Or, even if they did, most of the palace servants probably didn't know.

Saruhiko's tiny world was so boring.

There was no rule saying that he had to stay inside the palace at all times, but he would receive disapproving looks if he asked to go outside. And any time he did, he was accompanied by a guard or two. It was obvious that he was not permitted to go outside the city so Saruhiko didn't even bother asking.

Pretty soon, not just the palace, but the city life of Atlantis bored him. From what he was taught in school, there was apparently nothing beyond the city. Although he was pampered like royalty, Saruhiko still had to go to a public school. It seemed like the requirements of being treated like a prince only extended to food, shelter, and protection.

It was at school that people whispered rumors of a banished witch who lived outside the city. It's home wasn't all that far away, but enough to be out of sight and out of mind. There, they say, lies a coral reef that was tainted by its black magic so that everything was dead and broken. At the time, Saruhiko paid no attention to the rumors. They were just rumors and he wasn't interested in a witch that lived a solitary life. It's not like he could learn magic from the witch anyways (he wasn't of royal blood).

The classes were rather boring. The only thing that ever sparked his interest was when they mentioned humans in his history class. He had found it odd, despite the fact that they co-existed for so long, humans didn't know of them and they barely knew anything of humans. Saruhiko wanted to know more about them.

But the information was so limited. He would try looking in libraries and bookstore, but still he barely found anything. The only worthwhile thing he found was in the restricted section of the library. He had to sneak in there to find the book, too. All it detailed were a few objects they found on the ocean floor that humans had accidentally dropped. However, no one could figure out what the objects do. There were a few speculations here and there, but none of them was certain. Apparently, the only item that nearly all scientists agreed upon was a three pronged object that was used to comb hair. Saruhiko thought that it was a strange comb, you'd have to comb a long time with only three prongs.

_Why don't they just go up there and ask them_, Saruhiko had wondered in annoyance. Honestly, these merpeople were just so paranoid.

* * *

The only other boy around Saruhiko's age in the palace was another strange prince-like misfit. He was a year younger than Saruhiko, but had been in the palace for much longer. He was a serious boy and was always seen by the king's side. So the only times Saruhiko spoke with him in private was when they went to bed in the room they shared.

Kuroh Yatagami had been found in the outskirts of the city when he was two years old. The king, who was a kind person, took him in and since then, Kuroh had a strange fascination with the king. He would follow him around like a loyal dog and even took up training to be the king's personal bodyguard. Of course, he couldn't be the king's _actual_ bodyguard, he was only a child. Maybe when he's older. But the king humored him and let him carry around a wooden sword and learn to fight from the generals.

To Saruhiko, he was just another nutcase.

"Black dog," Saruhiko called Kuroh by his popular nickname, "Can you tell me about the day I came here?" It was night time and the sea was dark. Saruhiko couldn't sleep and decided to try and make conversation with Kuroh, who was sleeping on the other bed on the other side of the room.

"Hmm..." the younger boy rubbed his eyes and turned to face Saruhiko. He was only half awake and in a somewhat deluded state. Without thinking, he answered Saruhiko, "It was...that person's birthday."

"That person?"

"Um... I was six at that time."

"Yea," what did that have to do with anything? Saruhiko wanted to hear the important part...

"Which means you were seven. And so...he was thirteen. Yea, that sounds right. So he was allowed to go to the surface."

"Tsk, I don't need you to remind me how old I am," Saruhiko snapped. "If you're not going to tell me anything worthwhile, just go to sleep!" Saruhiko, who was pampered, had a less modest and polite personality than Kuroh, who spent his days being dedicated to someone rather than taking gratitude. And so, Saruhiko had more of an attitude problem and was more likely to snap or disobey orders.

Just before both boys fell asleep, however, Kuroh mumbled, "It was... the...prince..."

At some point, Saruhiko decided he wanted to learn to fight like Kuroh. Of course, the king was not against it and instructed Kuroh to teach him. Although Saruhiko would've preferred an adult to teach him, he was not completely disappointed. He was nine now and Kuroh was eight. Yet, Kuroh had learned nearly all the techniques the generals had to offer. He had a long way to go from mastering them, but he knew them well enough to teach Saruhiko.

"Like this, like this," Kuroh demonstrated by swinging the sword forward.

"Why would I do that? Wouldn't it be better if I just stab?" Saruhiko retorted as he thrusted the sword outward.

"Because that's not the style!" they were training outside the palace in the gardens and there was no one watching them.

"Tsk," Saruhiko clicked his tongue, "There should be more ways to learn how to fight." With that statement, even the calm Kuroh was about to lose his cool. "Whatever, I'm leaving," he threw the sword on the ground and started swimming upwards.

"Saruhiko, where are you going?" Kuroh yelled after him, but did not follow.

"Somewhere else!"

Kuroh didn't dare follow him. He didn't dare do anything without making sure he had the king's consent first.

And so, Saruhiko was out of the city. That was way too easy.

Outside the kingdom, Saruhiko glanced back. They were supposed to guarantee his safety and yet, they didn't even bother to keep an eye on him! He should've done this long ago. It probably wouldn't be too hard to get the servants to look the other way and he'd be able to wander out again.

The school books were true. For about a quarter of a mile, there really was nothing outside of the city. The ground was just bare sand with rocks. The further Saruhiko went, the more lively the place became. There were fishes and crabs and seaweed, he wondered why there was nothing near the city. Perhaps the fish ran away in fear of being eaten?

No matter, it was nice out here and he was going to enjoy it.

After about an hour of swimming, Saruhiko found himself in a strange place. He had been swimming in a coral reef filled with life, but everything suddenly faded to a lifeless gray. This part of the reef looked dead. There was no sign of anything living. As he swam curiously, he reached a cave opening at the edge of the dead reef.

There was a strange light coming from inside and Saruhiko peeked in. He couldn't see much, just some strange items placed throughout shelves in the cave and-

Saruhiko let out a gasp and quickly turned around, swimming away as fast as he can. He didn't stop until he was far, far away. He didn't even know how long or how fast he had been swimming. It must've been a while because he could see Atlantis not too far away. Just a couple more minutes of swimming and he would reach there. He was beside the rock formation that was part of the entire continent above him and he was at a much higher altitude than the city.

He stared at the place in surprise. The people looked quite small, like ants, at this height and they were moving around busily without a care in the world. ...He didn't know, he didn't know they looked like that. Saruhiko grinned, and he would've never known if he stayed in that cramped city!

Just as he was enjoying this moment of victory, he heard a yell.

"Help!" Saruhiko turned to look for the source of the sound. It took him a moment to find it, but he saw a pair of legs dangling in the sea. Immediately, he started laughing as he swam towards it.

A human was drowning! Now, wasn't that a spectacular sight to see! These prideful, vain creatures were at the mercy of something as simple as the ocean. ...Priceless, who said these humans were so powerful again?

Up close, Saruhiko realized it was a child who was struggling for air, one that looked even younger than him. He began to feel a little guilty. He can't just let the child drown, but if he saved him, wouldn't he see what Saruhiko is? There were rules in place against this...

_Baah, no one can enforce the rules out here_, he thought before he swam up behind the child, "You look like you could use some help."

He pulled the child above the ocean surface and he saw the blue sky for the first time. As the child coughed and sputtered in his arms, Saruhiko was looking at the surroundings. The sky is _blue_, he didn't know that! And what are those green things growing at the edge of that rock? It wasn't thin and paper-like like seaweed.

It didn't take long for the boy in his arms to recover and introduce himself as Misaki Yata. They had a small conversation and how strange- this child wasn't anything like the humans he heard about. Aside from this Scepter4, he was so happy, so ready to accept anyone. That was very different from the humans he heard about. If this child was really as prideful as the rest of humanity, he wouldn't have bothered to thank or invite Saruhiko to play with him. Granted, he didn't realize Saruhiko was a merman, but... there was something about the way Misaki smiled and laughed that Saruhiko couldn't hate. That made it impossible for Saruhiko to believe that Misaki was a part of a species that fought and hated everything around them.

He didn't understand, but he couldn't be happier when Misaki invited him to come back the next day.

* * *

"Where did you go?" Kuroh asked when he returned to the palace.

"Swimming."

The good thing about Kuroh is that he only thought of the king and didn't really care about others' actions as long as it didn't affect the king. So, he let it go and returned to practicing his sword.

For the rest of the day, Saruhiko couldn't forget Misaki. When the next day again, he snuck out of bed early and swam away. It was before the servants came and they would probably assume he went to play somewhere. They wouldn't bother looking for him.

When he broke surface, the sun was still rising. He waited for hours before Misaki showed up.

"Wow, you're really here!" Misaki screeched in delight as he rolled up his pants and ran into the ocean to greet Saruhiko. Of course, he only ran so far before he realized that any further meant getting his clothes wet and his mother angry. "Hey, why don't you come out of the water?"

Saruhiko paused. Misaki...still didn't understand? "I...uh, can't," surely now he would get the hint that something wasn't _right_ about Saruhiko.

Instead, Misaki looked at him with wide eyes before walking back to the beach. There, he quickly took off his shirt ran back into the ocean. Saruhiko kept his eyes glued on him in surprise. "Didn't you say your mother will be angry if you got your clothes wet?"

"It's only the pants so she'll only be half as angry!"

"...I don't think..."

Misaki shivered, "Why do you stay out here, Saru? It's cold!"

"... Saru...?"

"Yea, Saru! It sounds nice!"

He's so innocent, Saruhiko couldn't help smiling.

They met again the next day and they played in the water again. Misaki's mother scolded him, but it didn't stop Misaki from going to see Saruhiko again. Again, they promised to meet again the next day.

However, the next day, Misaki didn't show up. Saruhiko waited for the whole day, but the boy didn't show up. He wondered if Misaki had forgotten. So the next day, he waited again, but Misaki, once again, didn't show up. Saruhiko kept trying for the rest of the week, but Misaki didn't show up. He began to consider why. Perhaps Misaki's mother had finally got fed up with the wet pants and forced him to stay home. Perhaps he just couldn't leave the house so often. ...It made sense and Saruhiko rationalized that it was probably better for him to just forget this and stop coming.

Even though he told himself he would stop trying to see Misaki, Saruhiko couldn't help but pop out of the ocean in hopes of catching a glimpse of him. He couldn't do it too often, school had started again and he couldn't skip every day to try and find Misaki. He missed the boy, but there wasn't much he could do about it aside from hope.

"Black Dog," Saruhiko asked one night, "Is there anyone you would miss a lot if you were away from them for a long time?"

"Of course."

"Who is it?"

"The king, who else?"

"Why do you think you feel that way?"

"...I love him, I suppose," he answered after a pause. "He's the family I never had."

"Family...huh?" Saruhiko wondered if it was necessarily a family-like feeling he had for Misaki.

Saruhiko was fifteen and Kuroh was fourteen when the king died. The next day, Kuroh went missing. Saruhiko hasn't seen him since. There was no one to succeed after the king. After all, being the king required magical powers and no one in all of Atlantis had that. So, the parliament ruled for the time being. It would last until they found the "crown prince." Saruhiko didn't understand the politics nor did he care about it. In order to get away from a depressed and plotting palace, Saruhiko decided he would try going to the surface instead. He hadn't gone in a while, not since the king got sick.

As he burst through the surface and took a breath of air, Saruhiko's heart nearly jumped out of his chest from what he saw.

A boy with red hair sat on the edge of the beach skipping stones.

"Misaki?" Saruhiko questioned under his breath, he was still too far away to tell. Besides, it had been years, Misaki was sure to have gone through some changes. Saruhiko swam closer and hid behind a rock to look at the boy carefully.

He was certain, it was Misaki. He was about to call to his long time friend when someone beat him to it.

"Yata-san!" a chubby young man ran down the less steep slopes on the other side of the beach and ran towards Misaki. "There's big trouble!"

"What?" Misaki quickly stood up and Saruhiko's eyes followed him. Sounds like his voice changed. He didn't seem much taller though.

"Scepter4 just started a fight over at the East side! We don't have a lot of people there so we need to hurry! Mikoto-san is going too!"

Misaki's eyes lit up in a way that Saruhiko didn't like.

"Alright, let's go beat up some fucking Blues!" Misaki yelled as he picked up a strange board that was leaning against the rocks and ran up the slope away from the beach. The other man struggled to follow him.

What had happened to Misaki? Saruhiko was shocked, this was nothing like the Misaki he once knew. The Misaki he knew wasn't someone who looked for a fight. No, he was kind...right? The more Saruhiko thought about it, the more he realized he didn't really know who Misaki was. For all he knew, Misaki could've been just like the rest of the humans.

His heart hurt.

No, no, no, even if Misaki was terrible like that... he didn't care. As much as he wanted Misaki to stay kind and innocent, it wasn't as much as he wanted Misaki to be with him. Not whoever he just ran off with. Not whoever he was running for. Not whatever else he cared about.

Saruhiko narrowed his eyes. No, Misaki was his to adore.

* * *

**Ffff... So much for studying. **

**Anywaaaays, I kind of wanted to write more, but I was like, this is a good place to stop. Let's stop here :I As you can see in this chapter, I messed with the character relationships. And the facts of the original fairy tale. **

**For those of you asking for a happy ending... I like happy endings, but it's a little too early to say. Expect the unexpected!**

**Also, not sure if he'll show up again...but I'll be taking a reviewer's (ABECrudele) advice and in the future, Chitose will be referred to as Yoh. **

**Thank you for reading!**


	3. Kind of Stupid Rebel

**THREE: Kind of Stupid Rebel**

"Mommy, tell me a bed time story?"

It was night and the first few stars were beginning to show against the black sky. Her son was standing in the doorway to the backyard and she was unpinning dried clothing from a clothesline. "Get back inside. I'll tell you one as soon as I'm ready and you're in bed. Remember, both conditions must be fulfilled before you get a story."

The boy grinned and thumping of feet echoed throughout the house before he climbed into bed in a hurry. The lady smiled as she folded the pair of pants and brought the set of clothing into the house. She closed the door and placed the clothes in a closet before attending to her son.

"What story would you like to hear?" she asked as she blew out the candle by his bed and sat down next to him.

"I want to hear the one about the auras!"

The lady chuckled, but did as her son asked.

* * *

Do you know why this continent is called Shizume?

No? Oh darling, you haven't been paying attention in school?

Well, a long, long time ago, there used to be one country on this continent and it was called Shizume. Back then the people who lived here didn't have powers of any sort. There were no silver auras, gold auras, blue auras-

No, no, silly. If none of those existed, why would the red aura?

Anyways, no one had psychic powers of any sort. Still, however, they fought. They always fought. Be it something simple like who paid for the last meal or who stole a piece of bread, the people loved to fight. They used weapons different than us, like a prototype of the swords and shields we use.

Usually these were small squabbles and at worst, someone lost an eye and had to go to the doctor. However, then came the biggest fight of the year. The King had died of a sudden illness and he had twin sons. So of course, the two sons had to compete to see who would be the new king.

As fate would have it, both brothers fell in love with the same woman. The girl was very beautiful, but she was like a phantom. She wasn't a citizen of Shizume, but she appeared at night and rarely in the daytime.

No, darling, she wasn't a ghost.

She spent her time by the beach and both boys had caught a glimpse of her at different times and fell in love with her. And so they decided that they should compete for her love. The winner of a duel would have her hand in marriage and become the king of Shizume.

The younger brother won the duel and that night, he went to propose to her, still covered in his brother's blood. At the sight of him, she was startled and backed away in fear. And after he explained what had happened, she cried. She didn't love either of them, did not know they even existed, but she cried to hear about such a pointless death.

She refused his proposal and tried to run into the ocean, but he grew angry and followed her. In his anger, he attacked her and killed her. She fell into the ocean and the most extraordinary thing happened.

A man flew out of the ocean, holding the girl tightly. Some believe that he was the God of the ocean.

He was crying. He carried her across the sky to somewhere deep into Shizume and wasn't seen again. However, since that day, certain individuals began to posses strange powers. Powers that we now call psychic auras. First there was silver, then came gold and...

Oh, you're asleep.

Haha, alright, good night, Misaki.

* * *

The lady pulled the covers over and around Misaki's shoulders, giving him one last kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.

A fire in the fireplace kept the living room bright and Misaki's mother pulled a chair up next to it and sat down. She contemplated what she could do now. Ever since her older sons had gone, she didn't have much to do. There was always one less person to tuck into bed, one less pile of clothing to wash...

"Oh, Misaki, please don't be like your father and brothers," she wished, but she knew it was useless. Their abilities were hereditary and it would only be a matter of time before Misaki was recruited as well.

* * *

Not every citizen of Homra had the red aura. It was a mystery as to how the aura appeared or who gets it. All they knew is that it's hereditary and a symbol of a flame would appear somewhere on their body.

Currently, Homra was losing the war. They have had a high death toll these past few months, including the death of their general. The generals had the second highest amount of power after the king. It had been a surprise, but Scepter4's general had struck down Homra's best on the battlefield.

Outside of the battlefields and training schools, there were few who still had the flame mark. Hopefully there will be more once a new general appears.

Tonight, however, Kusanagi Sr., the late general's right hand man, had some bad news to deliver to Misaki's mother. On this clear night where the stars lit the streets, he knocked on the Yata household door and waited for an answer. When there wasn't one, he knocked again.

After waiting for several minutes, he was tempted to simply kick the door down, but he finally heard locks being undone from the inside. With the chain still in place, Misaki's mother looked outside with troubled eyes. She already knew it was bad news.

"Ms. Yata, may I come inside?"

She looked like she wanted to say no, but unlocked the door and let him in anyways. Once inside, he began the speech that he had repeated several times over the past month. "Ms. Yata, I'm sorry to inform you that your husband, the general, has been killed in action. Please a-accept our condolences."

His voice shook and he avoided eye contact. It was the second time he had come to deliver a similar speech to her and it was the third time altogether that she has heard the speech from an official.

"That's all, right?" she mumbled, "Please leave."

"A-Actually, I've also come to ask about Misaki-"

"Stop! You've taken my husband and my two older sons, you want to take my youngest too?" she couldn't help raising her voice. She knew that it wasn't his fault that the three of them had chosen to go into combat. And it certainly wasn't his fault that all three of them had died. Still, she couldn't help but hate him for this.

"Ms-"

"Don't Ms. me! He's not even ten yet and he hasn't even shown any ability to produce the aura so-"

"Mommy," both heads turned to the little figure standing in the hallway with a grin on his face. He held up his hands where a flame sprouted from each of his fingers. "Now I can be just like Daddy!"

Misaki was still too young to understand what death meant and even when they brought him to the training ground, he only understood that he would have to avenge his father by defeating the Blues. There, he met Izumo, who was a couple years older than Misaki, but already had a business like attitude and ran around doing half of his father's job for him.

Misaki was thirteen when they first let him on the battlefield. He performed exceptionally compared to the other children in training and they were desperate to get more soldiers into the battlefield. Scepter4's troops have began to outnumber them significantly.

"Kusanagi-san, look out!" Misaki yelled lighting up his aura and kicking his board up to block the sword from a Blue. "Hey, don't you think it's unfair to gang up on one person?" Misaki taunted at the pair of twins that he was facing.

"What a stupid kid..."

"War's not a game."

"There's no such thing as fairness on the battlefield," they both said together.

"...Oi! Are you calling me short?!" Misaki shouted before swinging his board around and going in for another attack.

The two Scepter4 members had the upper hand in both power and numbers against Misaki, but what made it worse was that they had lured him away from the rest of the Homra army and were entering a part of the battlefield that was closer to the Scepter4 territory.

By the time Misaki realized this, he was parrying his board against the sword of the general of the Scepter4 army, Reisi Munakata.

"Don't be stupid. Aren't you being a bit naive?" Reisi's body glowed blue and Misaki was sent flying backwards from a shockwave from his sword, which was still unsheathed.

"I don't think so, didn't you start around this age too?" he snarled as he struggled to stand up. He wouldn't admit it, but he was pretty worn out by now. The fight with the twins was harder than he expected and now he was facing the second strongest in all of Scepter4. The twins had also been toying with him. Now, they stood behind Reisi with their swords drawn and a smirk on their faces.

"I'm flattered you know so much about me-" Misaki lunged forward with his skateboard, only to be blocked by the sheathe of Reisi's sword. "-honestly, you're just embarrassing yourself now."

"I won't stop until I've avenged my father!"

"Your father?"

"The late general was my father!"

Reisi was quiet for a moment as if he was contemplating something. Misaki took this as a chance to attack, but he was foiled by a hit in the stomach with the butt of Reisi's sword. "I bet you don't even understand what it means to avenge someone."

"It means to get revenge for someone!"

Reisi let out a sigh, "I'm getting tired of talking with someone like you." He drew his sword and held it out to Misaki's throat. "This is just my job-"

There was a sudden blast of fire and Reisi quickly put up a force field in its direction. The shield protected him, but the other Scepter4 members weren't so lucky and were sent flying into the dirt, some with severe burns. Unlike the Blues, Misaki was protected by the stream of fire.

As the smoke cleared, a man Misaki had never seen before stood in between him and Reisi. He wore a challenging smirk and everything about him- his stance, his appearance, his attitude- it all screamed power. And Misaki was entranced right away.

"Tch, you didn't listen to my advice at all, did you? Suoh?"

"Sorry, Munakata, you don't get your way today," the man, Mikoto Suoh, raised his hands and engulfed it in fire, preparing an attack at Reisi, who still had his sword drawn. "Your decision. Fight or not today?"

Reisi narrowed his eyes before quickly sheathing his sword, "You can call it your win today. I wouldn't leave my men in pain on the floor." He turned around and gathered aura around the Scepter4 soldiers around the floor and began carrying them out of the battlefield.

A few moments later, someone on the Blues' side yelled out, "Retreat!"

At first, both sides were confused, but as soon as Scepter4 began leaving, Homra let out a loud cheer. It was their first victory in a long while!

Meanwhile, Mikoto turned to offer a hand to Misaki, who was still sitting on the ground completely awestruck. Hesitantly, he took Mikoto's hand and stood up.

"Your name?"

"U-Uh, Yata! It's Misaki Yata!"

"Yata, hmm... I'm the new general, Mikoto Suoh."

After Mikoto became general, Homra began to win more battles. Mikoto had a strange power. There was no flame mark anywhere on his body and he had the ability to "give" others his aura. Mikoto, whose power was a natural charm to many people on the battlefield began to attract more and more people to him. And in such a way, Homra's army grew large again. They were now in equal standing against Scepter4. There were even whispers that Mikoto had more power than the current Red King. Of course, those rumors were quickly hushed up to avoid trouble.

At present day, Misaki is nineteen and the fighting with Scepter4 continues.

"Ouch, Anna! That hurts!" Misaki hissed as the girl doused a scrape on his arm with alcohol. No amount of his complaining can reach her ears, though, and the girl kept a stoic look on her face.

"Quit complaining, Yata. You're getting treated by Mikoto's personal nurse, you should feel grateful," Izumo scolded. Yata pouted in response, but then hissed in pain as Anna started dabbing another wound with alcohol.

"You don't remember anything from last night?"

"For the last time! I don't remember a thing after fighting with Seri!"

"More details."

"She sent a shockwave at me and I dodged, lost my footing and fell."

"On the other side of the peninsula."

"I don't know how I got to where I was."

Izumo let out a sigh, "Fine, I believe you. Get some rest. You'll need it." He stepped out of the tent with Anna, who finished treating Misaki.

Watching the two of them leave, Misaki began to doubt his own memory. "...There was...someone holding me...?" he mumbled. It was faint, but he remembered the dark outline of someone against the sun.

* * *

"Do you believe in fate, Awashima-san?"

"Why do you ask, Sir?"

Reisi looked out of the palace windows. From here, he could see into the ocean. It was a lovely view. However, to him, the ocean looked as bland as it ever did. "I was just curious," a push of his glasses and he looked away from the scenery.

"...Are you talking about how you became both the general and prince of Scepter4?"

"No, not really. I was asking because I wonder if I could change it," he frowned, "Because I'm afraid fate has made it so that the event I hoped the most wouldn't come true...is going to come true."

"I don't follow, Sir..."

Reisi's lips twitched up into a sad smile, "Don't worry, Awashima-san. I will do all that I can to make sure nothing bad will happen."

* * *

Saruhiko swam quickly underwater to the dead reef. It was a place that scared him as a child, but he was grown up now. Things like broken coral no longer scared him. And even if this dead and gray place was a witch's doing, Saruhiko knew how to fight now, how to use a sword. It wasn't like he didn't know how to defend himself against a witch. Witches were just like merpeople, even with magic, a stab to the heart was all it took to kill them.

Coming to a stop in front of the dead coral cave, Saruhiko could once again see the outlines of green and the ends of the witch's tail. He swallowed. Even though he wasn't as scared as he was when he was little, the sight of it still made his heart tremble.

After all, what are you supposed to think when human skulls were stuck on the walls of the cave? He must've kept a collection of those who were shipwrecked and fell into the coral reef since the witch couldn't move outside of the cave.

Saruhiko could see the reason why from where he was standing. The witch's tail resembled an octopus's tentacles, but there were too many. There had to be at least five hundred tentacles and all of them were plastered into the wall, limiting his movement. He only had two free, which is what he probably used to grab shipwrecked sailors into the cave for his meal.

He swallowed before entering the cave.

The green glow got brighter as he traversed the tunnel, finally stopping at a turn where a green cauldron stood in the center of the room.

"You're late, Saruhiko~"

Saruhiko let out a gasp at the sight of the witch. The top part of the witch couldn't be called "human-like" at all. The skin had withered away and the ears and nose were twisted so that it looked like a fox's ears and snout. And the eyes, the eyes were wide and had a strange shape. His mouth looked like it was curved into a permanent insane and sadistic smirk, showing all of his teeth.

"You're such a selfish boy, coming all the way to see me for such a selfish wish," the witch swung the free portion of its body and curled itself around Saruhiko, "Did you think of how others would feel? How would the boy above feel if you just came and pulled him into the ocean? Wouldn't he miss the red-hair general? How about King Miwa? Or Kuro? Or maybe he crown prince who left so you could take his place? Were all of their efforts for nothing?"

Saruhiko kept his composure although he was terrified by the eyes and mouth and ears of the witch. He kept his voice steady, "What are you even talking about?"

The witch let out a cackle which echoed throughout the cave and sounded like there was several people laughing. Did bones laugh? Because it sounded like the skeletons in the front of the cave were laughing too.

"There are truth in fairy tales, you know?"

Saruhiko narrowed his eyes, feeling a slight rage boiling.

"Merpeople who went on land to find love, selfish wishers who met a bad end because of their wishes, and, of course, the first king of Atlantis and his two dear siblings."

"If you're done talking," he reached out and tried to grab the witch by the throat, but it was too quick and swiveled to the other side of him, "I'm here to have my wish granted!"

"So impatient~ No wonder they never liked you as much as Kuroh."

"What does the Black Dog have to do with this?"

"Haven't you ever wondered where he'd gone? Sure he didn't possess any magic so he couldn't become king, but you didn't think he would abandon the entire kingdom, right?"

Saruhiko no longer felt afraid. Instead, he just felt himself getting angrier and angrier by this witch's talking. If they had to listen to all this just to get their wishes granted, he wasn't all that surprised that all of the merpeople stayed away from here!

"Anyways, you came here to get a wish granted, right? Let's hear it."

Finally!

"Yes," Saruhiko grumbled, "I want to be a part of their world."

"Can't you...elaborate?"

"I want to know what a fire is why it burns. I want to explore the world outside of the ocean."

"Okay, stop..." it was the witch's turn to feel annoyed and somewhat disgusted. He turned his body and stretched and went to another part of the room, which led to, what Saruhiko guessed, was another corridor deeper into the cave. For a brief moment, Saruhiko was even curious to see how deep this cave went. He quickly changed his mind, however, when he remembered the task he came here for.

"You want to go on land, right? So you can see your beloved again rather than waiting in the ocean and bound by this world's rules, right? Because he's older now, he'll surely question why you won't come out of the ocean, right?"

"Yes, yes, and yes," Saruhiko hissed, why was this guy so annoying?

"Well, I can't really grant wishes for free," the witch said as he dumped a bag of some sort of powder he had retrieved from the other corridor with his tentacle arms into the cauldron. Immediately, whatever was boiling green burst into the air and the liquid turned into an indigo color.

"What do you want me to pay with?"

The witch frowned for the first time. It was like he was heavily annoyed. "Usually, I get young maidens who wish for something like this," he mumbled, "You know? Like getting a pair of legs to impress a guy on land? A while back a girl even fell in love with a prince."

"...So?" Saruhiko deadpanned. He was getting less and less impressed by this guy by the second.

"Well, I usually ask for their voices in return because they're always lovely. ...But I can't do that with you."

"Why not?"

"You can't sing," it was the witch's turn to deadpan.

"I-I can!"

"No, you can't."

There was a short squabble between the two of them which ended when Saruhiko tried to sing and the witch begged for him to stop.

"You know what? Forget it!" the witch said as he smacked his ears with his tentacles, trying to get the ringing in his head to stop. "I'll give you legs for free. You're doing me a favor anyways!"

"Really?"

"Yes, you know why I'm here anyways."

"...Cause of the first king of Atlantis? I thought that was just a children's tale."

"Is that what they call it nowadays? Let me guess? I'm the big, bad, evil witch who lured a pretty girl onto land."

"Yes."

The witch let out a growl, "Is that what they call it nowadays?" he repeated, "Baah, they don't even know the true story of what happened and they name me the bad person. I bet it was _him_ who started all of the stories anyways, the liar."

"Excuse me," Saruhiko cleared his throat, "Sorry to break into your monologue, but I still want to get my wish."

The witch rolled his eyes, "Right, right," he reached for a ladle and scooped some of the indigo liquid from the cauldron into a bowl. "Drink this. Afterwards, you'll grow legs and you'll pass out. I'll bring you up to the surface afterwards. Oh, a warning though. Because I'm not a king and my magic isn't as strong, I cannot change your eyesight. As you know, the scientists have proven that our eyesight isn't as strong on land. Something about being used to the water..." the rest of his sentence was lost in mumbles.

_That's not necessarily true_, Saruhiko thought. He remembered seeing Misaki perfectly fine when he went above the water.

"Well, then, ready?" the witch asked, holding out the bowl to Saruhiko.

"As I'll ever be," Saruhiko said as he took the bowl and drank all of the liquid in one gulp. Right after he swallowed, he dropped the bowl and his hands went to his throat. It was burning with pain! And then his tail! He looked down and saw that it splitting in two. There was a straight tear starting from the fins spreading upward.

Fear gripped him, there was blood. Was he going to die? He had seen wounds like this when merpeople got caught by sharks who ripped their tails in half. He glanced at the witch. He was smiling at him.

Had he been tricked?!

Before he can reach out and attack the witch, the pain grew stronger and before he knew it, his vision was fading. His eyelids felt heavy and he fell unconscious to the bottom of the cave floor.

The witch smiled at the merman on the cave floor. The transformation was still taking place and he waited until it finished before picking Saruhiko up and swimming towards the top of the dead coral cave. They broke the surface and the witch let the ocean sweep the merman-now-boy towards the shore.

"Number five hundred and seventy. Only one more," the witch cackled before diving back down to his cave.

* * *

**My summer vacation finally starts! Finals week is over, packing is over, I was stuck in traffic for five hours and half an hour away from home, my mom said, "Oh, by the way the house currently has no wifi."**

**Dafaq. **

**Why you do this to me, Mom? Yea, so I typed this up Friday night, finished on Saturday, and will hopefully be posting on Monday when I get new wifi wired into the house. The only thing connected to the internet is my phone and I have limited MB on that. Fff-**

**Anyways, some things to say about this chapter-**

**Did anyone notice the Disney reference here? (Actually there were a few...) The more subtle one (I think it's subtle) involves a song.**

**I meant for this chapter to be about Misaki, but in the end Saruhiko stole the stage again. There were a couple of things I hoped to mention or reveal in this chapter that I didn't really get a chance to. (Writing can really run away from you sometimes!) Hopefully I can get to it soon.**

**I'm sorry for creating OCs in this chapter, but...I had no internet to check out the families of any of the characters. (I don't think the info has been released yet anyways.) The witch is not an OC, though...I'm not sure if it was made clear enough, but he's the Colorless King- the foxy one. He doesn't have a name so... he'll probably remain nameless throughout this fic.**

**Sorry about the long footnote. As always, thank you for reading!**


	4. On Land

**FOUR: On Land**

When Saruhiko first woke up, his memories were swimming and he felt a pounding headache along with aches on every single part of his body. He was coughing and sputtering water, the witch hadn't been gentle when he brought Saruhiko to the surface. As soon as the burning in his lungs began to fade, he laid back down on the sand and fell asleep again.

When he woke up again, the sun was setting and the first thing he noticed was that everything around him looked blurry. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, he thought it was just the usual tears that clouded his eyes whenever he woke up. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to clear his vision, he found that it was useless. He really couldn't see clearly!

He was beginning to panic when he remembered what the witch had said, their eyesight was poor on land. How strange, he never had this problem when he played with Misaki as a child. Giving one final, uncomfortable rub to his eyes, he tried to get up.

The appearance of his legs were blurry, but he could see they were there. The witch hadn't lied. He looked at them blankly, _how do I do this?_ Misaki and everyone else he had seen on land just got up and walked. Still, that gave him no hints as to _how_ to walk.

As he was trying to recall how anyone he had seen on land walk, a voice broke his thoughts, "Put these on." What followed was something hitting and falling over his head. As he pulled the object off his head, he recognized that it was cloth, but that was all he understood. After all, as a merman, he didn't wear anything...

"Do you know how to put them on?" Saruhiko heard the sounds of sand being shuffled behind him as the person approached. He glanced upwards and saw the blurry figure of a man dressed in blue. He registered the man moving his hand and pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, "Please don't tell me you traded your voice away. That would make things ten times more difficult."

"I didn't," Saruhiko answered with no hesitation. The confusion he had quickly faded away into irritation. Was this person looking down on him? However...he really didn't know what to do with these pieces of cloth.

"Good. If you don't know how to put them on, just tie the white one around your waist. I just can't have you walking around naked."

With a frown, Saruhiko did what he was told and wrapped the white piece of cloth around his waist. There was something else that was unsettling now, who was this person and why did he seem to know all about what was wrong with him? "Who are you?" he wished he could have said that in a more threatening stance, but the fact that he was sitting on the sand with useless legs didn't make him scary. Instead, he only looked helpless.

"Someone who wishes things weren't going down the drain. Can you walk?"

"What?" something about the way he said that irritated him, like he was implying Saruhiko had made a mistake. "...No, I can't," and the last thing he wanted was to depend on him.

"You're not going to carry me," Saruhiko added stubbornly.

* * *

There are several countries on the continent of Shizume, but only six of them contain people who could use auras. The country in the center used a golden colored aura and was called Usagi. It wasn't their original name; it might not have had a name to begin with. However, people began calling the country 'Usagi' when the third king began walking around with bodyguards in golden rabbit masks. Despite the fact that they were rabbits, they still looked rather intimidating.

Usagi was known as a neutral country. Despite containing aura, most of its citizens were unable to fight. However, the fact that they had aura made others view them an enemy and there were still tensions between them and the other clans. The only difference is that they've declared themselves to be in a neutral state and a place where clan leaders can go for peace meetings.

Their current leader, Daikoku Kokujoji, is the second oldest of the six kings. In that way, he commanded a sort of respect over the other clans, but it still didn't mean much in the long run. There were rumors that he knew the Silver King, an elusive figure in their world.

And that was one of the reasons Kuroh Yatagami stayed by his side and worked for him for four years.

The other reason was simply that the Golden Clan was far more hospitable than any of the other clans. Their stance in neutrality welcomed strangers, unlike the five other ones which held tension against each other. One wrong move and the kings of the other clans could have put him to death.

Kuroh walked quickly, but silently, across the palace to the room where Daikoku spent most of his time. Stopping in front of the doors for a brief second, the doors opened on their own automatically. The first time he had been here, Kuroh was surprised, but by now, he realized that Kokujoji was capable of doing this simply by standing nearby. That man contained a power that put him in the rightful place of most powerful of the six kings.

"You needed me for something?" Kuroh asked from the entrance. In exchange for allowing him to stay here, Kuroh was to answer to any task or job the Gold King had for him. He didn't like being another king's errand boy, but for the late king of Atlantis, he will put up with it.

"From what I know, your foster father, the late king of the underwater kingdom, could see the future, correct?" even for someone as knowledgeable as him, he could not pronounce the sounds of the kingdom Kuroh came from. To Kuroh and any other person who have grown up as a merman or mermaid, they could say the word 'Atlantis', but to the people on land, it was just a jumble of incoherent sounds.

"Yes," Kuroh answered. Understanding that Daikoku wanted to hear more, he continued, "Before his death, he told me he foresaw a disaster so he sent me to look for the Silver King on land."

"Unfortunately, that person is as elusive as ever. The country the Silver Clan is in is practically secluded from the rest of the clans." The Silver King was rumored to be immortal, however, he has been missing from the kingdom for a long time. Since then, the Silver Clan has acted similar to a democracy.

"This isn't news to me, is there something you needed me for?"

The old man looked disturbed by something, "Usagi and Scepter4 have been on good relations for a while and earlier today, their king alerted me that they have found a young man by the ocean."

Kuroh didn't find the occurrence significant until he realized- "Wait, you can't mean he came from the ocean?"

"He also told me his name is Saruhiko. That's the name of your older foster brother, right?"

"...You're kidding! Why would he be here?"

"He's been here for a week already, the message arrived late. If you'd like, I'll allow safe passage for you to meet and talk with him."

Kuroh hesitated on taking the offer. He still had to fulfill the last request of his late king and he wasn't close to Saruhiko. There really wasn't any reason for him to visit Scepter4. He wanted to say no.

But, it seemed rather heartless to not check if Saruhiko was alright. In fact, he should ask his 'older brother' for a reason why he came on land. He answered somewhat reluctantly, "...I'll go visit."

* * *

Earlier that week, on the same morning that Saruhiko had shown up on the shores of Scepter4, Misaki had been sleeping in his tent.

"Oiii, Yata-san, wake up!" Rikio yelled as he lifted up the opening flap to Misaki's tent, "They're going to eat all the breakfast without you!"

"...What?" Misaki mumbled groggily as he sat up from his sleeping bag.

"They restocked on food, so they have some nice congee this morning! You're going to miss all of it if you stay here any longer!"

"I understand, I'll be out in a minute," Misaki said as he pulled the tent flap back down. He knew that Rikio meant well, but he hadn't been in a good mood since he arrived at the campground yesterday. He had been struggling to remember what happened the night before from late evening to early morning. To his dismay, he couldn't remember anything aside from a dark outline of someone against the sun.

Anna, who had the occasional strange ability to read minds told Misaki that he had an injury on his head that indicated he hit his head pretty hard. As a result, he might have temporary amnesia. Misaki still didn't understand what sort of power Anna had, just that it could be used in many ways. Unfortunately, none of those powers included the ability to help Misaki recall his lost memories. And so, Misaki had been unable to sleep the entire night due to trying to remember what happened. With a yawn, he pulled a shirt on and exited the tent.

The campground looked the same as most mornings after a battle. Despite that a day had passed, the memories were still fresh in most of the soldiers' minds. During breakfast, most of them sat together in circles of friends laughing loudly or eating silently. It was easy to tell how the battle had gone for each group. Misaki, who hadn't gotten the chance to talk with many people the day before, was thankful to see that the group he usually sat with were all cheerful.

After getting a bowl of food from the food tent, Misaki sat down next to Yoh. Right away, Shohei shouted, "So you didn't keel over and die after all!"

"Shut up or I'll make you keel over and die right now!" Misaki shot back. There was a burst of laughter from the group before they continued the conversations with each other. It seemed that everyone had been in lively spirits ever since they heard Misaki was found.

In the middle of the crude jokes being passed around, Eric asked out loud, "I wonder why they restocked the food supply today?"

"Perhaps the King is offering thanks for a good job?"

"Wow, he's thanking us? That's rare. I wish he'd actually come out here and do some damage," Eric scoffed, "He's supposed to be the strongest, right?"

"Well, he can't really just do that," Kosuke cut in. Misaki guessed he spoke up to avoid Eric saying anything more that could become a bad rumor.

"Yea, there are rules to everything," Masaomi added.

"Speaking of rules," Rikio spoke up as he walked by after getting a second bowl, "You haven't gone back in a while, have you, Yata-san?"

"Now that you mention it, Yata hasn't been on leave for months. Wow, I didn't even notice. Such a surprisingly hard worker-"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Misaki yelled, standing up as if to make a point, "And besides, I like fighting. I'd rather stay by Mikoto-san's side!"

"Well then," a new voice floated in from behind Misaki, "I insist Yata-chan go on leave."

Misaki turned around in confusion, "Totsuka-san! Why...?"

"Aside from the fact that it's one of the rules?" Tatara asked as he placed a folded piece of paper in Misaki's hand, "Because it'll do you good. You've been on the grounds for months, aren't you tired?"

"But, I have to fight by Mikoto-san's side-"

"That's why everyone's here, right?" Tatara cut in, "If you insist on staying, that's like saying you don't believe that everyone here is capable enough?"

"You little Chihuahua, if that's true, I'm going to pound you," Eric spoke in a language different from what they were using earlier.

"I understood that," Misaki yelled back in irritation.

Before the argument between the two can start, Tatara tapped on the shorter boy's shoulder to bring his attention back, "You might also want to read that, it's important."

* * *

While everyone else spent the afternoon doing fun activities such as push-up wars or flirting with the nurses or chatting outside the tents, Misaki was rolling up his sleeping bag and packing up what little he brought to the battlefield with him. None of the soldiers brought much. It would've been pointless weight.

"Hey, Yata-san, you're leaving toonight?" Rikio asked as he ducked inside the tent.

"Yea, you should feel lucky, you get a free tent to yourself for a while."

Riko continued as if ignoring Misaki's comment, "This is unlike you."

"...It's kind of urgent," Misaki mumbled as he picked up the sleeping bag and walked outside, "I'll see you in a month and a half. Don't get yourself killed!"

"I won't..."

Misaki walked up to Izumo who was in the main tent still doing paperwork. Sometimes, Misaki wondered if Izumo ever had _no_ paperwork to do. "Kusanagi-san, I'm here to drop off the sleeping bag."

"Just drop it in the box," Izumo said, pointing at a box behind him without looking away from his desk.

Misaki nodded and did as he was told. As the sleeping bag landed in the box with a _whump_, he noticed a sleeping figure in the back of the tent. Unconsciously, he had frozen in place, staring.

"He knows," Izumo said suddenly, making Misaki jump, "That guy's always sleeping, but he knows how hard you work. He would've said thank you. But since he's dead asleep, I'll have to say it for him."

"U-Um, you're welcome!" Misaki said quickly, an embarrassed blush climbing up his cheeks.

Izumo nodded, "You might want to get going now. Or you'll miss the ride back." Misaki nodded quickly and left the tent.

As soon as he left, Tatara entered the tent, "Ah, Yata-chan is finally leaving? It'll be good for him to take a break. That said..." his eyes drifted to the back of the tent, "I wish he would be allowed to leave once in a while too."

* * *

There were two others on the carriage with him that night. Their faces were familiar, but Misaki couldn't put a name to them. One of them was on crutches and it was clear that he was no longer returning to the battlefield.

The three of them were silent during the ride. They didn't know each other and there wasn't much to talk about. Misaki shifted about awkwardly in his seat. Conversation seemed appropriate right now, but his lips couldn't form a single word. Instead, he chose to stare down at his hands, giving the window an occasional glance whenever the carriage jolted from rolling over a rock on the road.

As the moon rose high above their heads, the other two fell asleep. Misaki, however, stayed awake as various thoughts zoomed through his head. How he ended up on the other side of the peninsula, the outline of a person, the fact that he was leaving the battlefield, and especially, that piece of paper. It had been a letter with an unfamiliar script. It was a letter from the town's doctor, a man that Misaki had met once during his last visit home. In it, he wrote that Misaki's mother had fallen ill and asked him to come home to visit her.

"To increase her morale, if not to see her one last time," it had said.

Misaki let out a sigh, "How am I supposed to respond to something like that?" he mumbled. He grew up with nearly no family members, his mother being the last one left. However, his mind also danced with paranoia that a teammate might get injured and die because he wasn't on the battlefield with them. And so, he as the carriage trudged on, he was stuck wondering if leaving the battlefield was the right thing to do. Before long, he came to the conclusion that he was already on the carriage back, what's done is done. He'll trust in his choice. Besides, those guys could handle themselves like Tatara had said.

It was a little past midnight when they arrived at Misaki's house. It was the first stop and as soon as Misaki pulled his belongings out of the carriage, the driver rode off without a word. Misaki considered yelling a complaint for driving off so quickly, but decided against it and turned to face the house he hadn't visited for over a year.

_Has it been a year,_ he wondered. He had always loved fighting and as dreamed about fighting as a child. Ever since he had been on the battlefield, he had lost count of the days. Everything felt right when he was fighting for Homra, for Mikoto-san that it felt like only a month or two had passed instead.

There was a dim glow showing through the front windows of the house. Misaki could tell that his mother was still awake in her room. It took him a few minutes to dig out his keys from the bottom of his pockets and find the right one for the front door. Why were there so many strung together anyways? He couldn't remember where half of these led to, _was the third one for the basement?_ As soon as he unlocked the door, he shook the questions out of his mind. There was no point in wondering now, he had a whole month and a half to try out all the keys. Dropping his belongings in a chair that rested by the door, he made his way to the back of the house.

"Mother, I'm home."

* * *

A few days later, Ms. Yata was up and bustling. She appeared to have an endless amount of energy and went to the market daily to buy ingredients to cook her son's favorite foods for dinner. When she was at home, she was busy tidying things up and Misaki spent as much time as he could to help her. There wasn't much else to do around town so he decided he would stick around the house for a few days before looking for a job.

"It's a miracle, I was hoping you'd make her feel better, but I didn't think she'd recover in five days," the doctor said when he came for a visit. According to him, Ms. Yata had been bedridden for months and was looking worse and worse by the day. Three days after Misaki had returned, however, her health improved significantly.

"Then I should go back to the battlefield again?" Misaki asked as he placed a cup of tea on the table in front of the doctor.

"No, no...She's recovering, but there's no telling what could happen, it's best that you stay. How long did you take a leave for?"

"A month and a half? I think?"

The doctor frowned, "It can't be longer?"

"I can try to request for more time."

Misaki had a brief chat with the doctor and learned that there were few men left in the town. Nearly all that were fit for war had left for the battlefield so all that were left were the old and the young. The few that remained were left in charge of the stores and the fields. So if Misaki wanted a job, he had returned at a good time.

Later that afternoon, Misaki learned that despite the fact that there were many jobs available for him, most of them were chores such as heavy lifting or cleaning. It didn't help that a lot of the employers hiring thought he was a fourteen year old boy making him snap and ruin any chances of getting hired. Finally, while biting his tongue to keep himself from yelling when the general store manager commented on his height, he got a job.

"Probably shouldn't have yelled at the manager of the restaurant," he grumbled as he helped unload the last few crates of merchandise from a wagon. If he got the position of a waiter, at least he'll be indoors taking orders rather than doing heavy lifting outside on a humid, cloudy day. It was an unnaturally hot day and despite the fact that the clouds looked dark and heavy, the rain wasn't falling.

"Yata-kun, thanks for everything," the store's manager called from the store window as he motioned the redhead to come closer. "Here's your lunch," he said as he handed Misaki a couple of wrapped sandwiches.

"Thanks, Mister. I'll be back in about half an hour to unload the rest," he said as he turned to walk out of town.

What the doctor had said was true, there were only a few boys his age left in town and he couldn't find any familiar faces to eat with. There were certainly many girls walking about the main street, a few even cast a glance at him. Any time that happened, he quickly looked away and pretended to be interested in a display window. He had never been good with talking with girls (Anna had been an exception). So the last thing he wanted was to eat alone in the town square where girls could approach him.

Misaki wound up walking further and further away from town in search of a quiet place to eat and before he knew it, he found himself standing in front of an old, overgrown path. As the first few drops of rain hit him, Misaki felt the tickle of an old memory of this place.

He could remember laughter and running when he played with the boys his age by the river that was down this path. His mother used to bring him here along when she was having a picnic to gossip with other housewives. It looked like no one bothered to have picnics anymore, though, with the state of the path.

"Well," he mumbled to himself, "If I eat here, there's definitely no one to bother me." He didn't even bother to think about the rain. Instead, he felt a drawn to it by a strange nostalgia.

The rain fell harder as Misaki walked further into the grove of trees that grew around the river. However, few drops hit him thanks to canopy made by the branches. _I remember swimming in the river. Was there a time I couldn't swim...?_ Misaki couldn't remember perfectly, like there was a cloud in the back of his mind fuddling his memories. He felt like he was grasping at the edge of something, someone-

The river spread out in front of him and his shoes sank into mud. ...Was the river always this large? He had just made it out of the trees and the water was already approaching him. What happened to the grassy field that they used to use for picnics?"Shit!" Misaki dropped the lunch and turned to run back toward the trees, however, the water had already gone up to his knees, "Dammit! I forgot the river floods when it rains!" He really had been away for far too long if he forgot that!

However, now was not the time to worry about what he had forgotten as he tried to escape the current that had expanded along with the river. The rain poured on and in a matter of seconds, Misaki felt the current lift his body and pull him downstream. _Don't panic_, he told himself as he tried to reach out for anything to grab onto, roots, branches, rocks! He was blinded by the water rushing into his eyes, but he still had a chance to cling to something since he was still close to the edge of the water.

Ah! His hands touched something!

Misaki grabbed on tightly and was quickly pulled out of the water and into...an embrace? "That's the third time I've saved you from drowning, Misaki," a tired voice grumbled.

"Don't call me-" his words were lost as he coughed out a mouthful of water onto the ground. After the burning in his throat subsided, he rubbed and blinked water out of his eyes so he could take a good look at whoever just saved him.

As soon as his eyes registered the person in front of him, he reached his arm out and punched him in the jaw. The other boy fell backward in a surprised grunt and Misaki took this chance to pin him down, "What the hell is a Blue doing here?!"

* * *

**/epic headdesk**

**This chapter, like this weather: I cannot. Would you believe that I rewrote this chapter three times and named all of my documents 'chap. 4', 'maybe chap. 4' and 'could this be chap 4'? Ugggraaagh... I don't know what it is, but I had terrible block, lost touch with characterization, lost inspiration, among other problems while writing this chapter. It might be because I was trying to do too much in one chapter :I **

**I really wanted to move the scene off the battlefield because I don't think I have the skills to do a war fic justice. And then I'm like, wait, what about Saruhiko? It took me a while, but I finally decided it's about time to reveal some of the secrets in this fic.**

**But when I reached the end of the chapter, I realized, shit! I haven't really accomplished anything! But if I pushed any further with this chapter, I wouldn't know where to end it.**

**By the way, happy birthday, Misaki! **

**Thank you for reading, hopefully I can get a better chapter done quickly next time. I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to replying to anyone either ;A; I'll get to it...soon. This heat is quite the unmotivator...**


	5. Third Time's the Charm

**FIVE: Third Time's the Charm**

Saruhiko blinked away the tears that came along with the pain as his glasses flew off his face and landed a few feet away. Immediately following, he felt Misaki pull on the collar of his shirt, holding his fist out in front of him, threatening to punch again. He figured that Misaki would be violent, being a soldier, but he couldn't think of what he could've possibly done to upset the boy sitting on top of him. Heck, he just saved his life.

"Answer me!" Misaki yelled as he shook Saruhiko, narrowing his eyes. There was something familiar about him that he couldn't quite put his finger on. The obvious answer was that he's seen him on the battlefield, yet the setting that came to mind was watery...calm and happy. The exact opposite of an angry battlefield, "...Who are you?"

Both boys seemed to be stunned by those words.

Saruhiko's eyes widened in shock as he felt a deep pain in his chest. He knew that Misaki hadn't seen him in years, but Saruhiko was stunned by the fact that Misaki couldn't remember a single detail about him. Not a name, not a face, not anything? Saruhiko didn't want to believe it, but the proof was already there, _Misaki didn't remember him_.

Misaki, on the other hand, was stunned by the fact that his own words sounded gentle... There was a strange familiarity in this boy and he loosened his grip on Saruhiko's collar. Saruhiko took advantage of this fact and quickly pushed Misaki off and punched him hard before rolling to his feet in front of Misaki.

"Is that how you thank someone for saving your life?" he yelled as he picked up his glasses and turned to leave. If Misaki was going to claim to have amnesia, he wasn't sticking around any longer for it.

"Wait," Misaki mumbled as he stood up and wiped a tiny trickle of blood off the corner of his mouth. Damn, he didn't see the punch coming and he nearly bit his tongue off. Aside from that, Saruhiko punched hard, but he was unarmed. That was strange, Misaki thought all Scepter4 soldiers carried an arsenal of weapons when walking around. ...Perhaps he wasn't one after all?

"What do you-" Saruhiko froze when he felt Misaki take his hand.

"Thank you for saving me," Misaki said, looking directly into Saruhiko's eyes causing the taller boy's cheeks to turn slightly pink, "Now tell me why you're here! How did you even get here, so far into Homra territory?"

Crap, how was he going to answer this one?

"You have a Scepter4 military uniform on, but you're not a soldier. Who are you?" Misaki asked again, this time more demanding.

"...Tsk, if you can't find the answer inside that tiny brain of yours, I'm not going to bother answering," Saruhiko said as he pushed wet hair out of his eyes. The forest canopy shielded them from rain when the storm started, but now it was coming down in waves, soaking his entire uniform.

Anger and frustration flashed in Misaki's eyes, "Fine, then I'm placing you under arrest for trespassing-"

"You and what army?" Saruhiko rolled his eyes, "You can't even swim! Are all Homra soldiers this pathetic?"

The last statement made something in Misaki snap, "...You piece of shit Blue!" he yelled as he lunged forward, kicking Saruhiko in the back of his knee, making him lose balance. Misaki immediately pushed him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back.

"Mmff-" Saruhiko's voice was muffled by the mud.

"I dare you to say that again! I won't let you say bad things about Homra-" a sudden kick in the stomach knocked the air out of him as he was thrown off of Saruhiko. He rolled to a stand a couple feet away, confused. He had pinned Saruhiko down, how had he done that? Somehow, Saruhiko had managed to lift his feet up and kick Misaki...? The only thing Misaki could think of was that the motion reminded him of a fish. His legs had twisted backwards as if it was a tail, but kicked with the strength of human bones.

That definitely wasn't military training, he had _never_ seen someone fight that way on the battlefield.

A few feet away, Saruhiko had taken his glasses off and squinted at them, "...You broke them, Misaki." He glared over at the other boy, "Are you satisfied yet?"

"...How did you know my name?" Misaki took an uncertain step forward, "We've...met before?" The eye color, the facial structure, there was something familiar about them and the pouring rain making Saruhiko's hair stick wet to his skin- that was a familiar image, too.

The two of them were standing only inches apart now. They were close enough that if someone else saw them, they'd look like they were old friends having a conversation instead of enemies who were just fighting with each other. Neither of them made a sound, only the pelting of rain and rushing of the river echoed in the otherwise silent forest. The silence made Misaki afraid to talk, to make a sound. Did he know this boy wearing a Scepter4 uniform? And why did he care? All Scepter4 citizens are enemies! Still, there was a strange magic that made him want to keep silent.

After what felt like an eternity, Misaki finally opened his mouth to say something, "Your name-"

A sudden clap of thunder made both of them jump and Misaki suddenly remembered that they were standing in the middle of a storm. "Actually, we shouldn't stay here- Huh?!"

Saruhiko suddenly pulled Misaki forward and kissed him on the forehead, "My name is Saruhiko." He took a few steps back and disappeared into thin air.

For a good fifteen minutes, Misaki stood there with wide eyes and mouth open, "..._What_?" He just got kissed by the enemy and then the enemy just disappeared? Hell, he would've thought that he imagined the whole thing if it wasn't for the fact that his body still hurt from where Saruhiko had punched and kicked him.

"Saru...hiko?" Misaki repeated to himself with a sigh. He needed to get out of this rain, take a shower, then try to figure out why that name sounded so familiar.

* * *

"I didn't give you permission to use the magic mirror," Saruhiko heard Reisi's disapproving tone the moment he stepped out of the glass. The path that connected between the mirror and the river in Homra territory was a dark one filled with the light of stars. Saruhiko wasn't sure how it worked, but it had gotten him where he wanted to so he didn't care much about the mechanics.

Saruhiko shrugged, "It's not like you said I couldn't use it."

"Try not to overuse it, it's not a toy. Where did you go anyways? You're soaking wet."

Finding no reason to lie, he answered, "Homra territory to see an old friend."

Reisi raised an eyebrow, "In uniform?"

"You didn't tell me this was the military uniform!"

"Next time you'll know not to wear it. They don't like us very much over there," Reisi said, letting out a sarcastic chuckle. Then, he snapped his fingers and the image on the mirror changed to reflect one of the waiting rooms in the Scepter4 palace, "By the way, someone's here to see you."

"Black Dog?" Saruhiko exclaimed in surprise as his somewhat-half-brother showed up in the mirror's reflection. The young man was leaning back against a couch with his eyes closed and arms folded. To anyone else, he looked like he was asleep, but Saruhiko recognized this position. Kuroh Yatagami was fully awake and attentive. In fact, his patience appeared to be driving thin. Beside the couch, Seri stood guarding the door.

"Kuroh Yatagami? Is that what you call him nowadays?" Reisi asked with furrowed eyebrows, "I mean, I've heard them use that nickname once or twice back then... Anyways, he's been waiting all morning. I think he's tired of the silence game with Seri."

"You didn't greet him yourself?"

Reisi shook his head, "It'd be a bad idea for him to see me right now. Please don't mention me either when you talk with him."

"What if he asks-"

"Just say that a soldier found you," Reisi said as he exited the room.

"Tsk," Saruhiko clicked his tongue in annoyance as he made his way to the waiting room Kuroh was staying in. Seri turned to leave the room, but not giving the two boys a suspicious look before doing so.

Having heard Saruhiko enter, Kuroh opened his eyes and sat up straight on the couch. Saruhiko sat in the armchair across from him. "You're soaking wet, shouldn't you go change?" Kuroh asked with a frown.

"I'm soaked all the time underwater. I don't care if my skin gets wrinkly."

"No, that isn't the problem! Humans differ from mermen more than just a tail and a leg. You'll get sick."

"It's not your problem."

"Ichigen-sama would disapprove."

"What do I care if-" Saruhiko stopped himself when he caught Kuroh's glare, "...Tsk. I'll be right back." Saruhiko quickly got up and left the room in search of a towel and a change of clothes.

Left alone in the room, Kuroh pulled his recorder out of the pocket of his pants and clicked play, "Judge only after you've listened." With a sigh, he pocketed the device again. Apparently, there was nothing like this on land and he had worried about whether or not it would function out of the water, but it worked fine. He had to "recharge" it by leaving it in the water once in a while though. Kuroh was wary of using it in public as much as he loved hearing his master's voice. The first time he did, people crowded around him asking what it was, some suggesting that it was witchcraft. He had been lucky that the Gold King managed to calm everyone down before the incident escalated.

However, back to the problem with Saruhiko. Kuroh sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, he will always do as Ichigen tells him, but his patience is wearing thin. What in the world was Saruhiko doing out of the water? And on top of that, _how_? No one else could cast magic now that Ichigen was dead.

A sudden jolt of realization came to him, _did they find the Prince?_ He has to ask Saruhiko! He was tempted to follow the older boy out of the room before he remembered Ichigen's words once more. Right, he should listen to Saruhiko before jumping to conclusions. So once again sitting down on the sofa, he waited for the other to return.

Ten minutes later, Saruhiko returned to his seat in a new set of clothes, a plain shirt and blue trousers. Kuroh noticed that the people in this palace really liked blue. He supposed it had to with the fact that this was called the Blue Clan, but he was sure that the Gold Clan didn't have half as many gold items as the Blue Clan had blue items.

"So what is it?" Saruhiko asked.

"Trust me, there are a lot of things I want to yell at you about," Kuroh narrowed his eyes, "But I'll hear your reasons for being here first."

"Like you're allowed to talk," Saruhiko scoffed, "You've been missing for four years."

"Why are you here?"

Saruhiko looked away, not wanting to answer, "... ... ... I wanted to see someone."

"It's obviously not me, right?"

"Obviously."

"I can't think of anyone else you could want to see on land. In fact, you couldn't have known I was here. So who were you looking for? A human?"

"...Yes, a Homra soldier," Saruhiko finally admitted after the two of them were silent for a while.

Kuroh frowned, "...But, you're in Scepter4 territory."

"I didn't want to be here!" Saruhiko protested, "I didn't know a thing about what was going on up here and when I woke up I couldn't see anything or even walk. It took three days to learn how to do so."

"If you didn't know anything about politics on land, why did you come?" Kuroh grumbled, unable to keep his patience for much longer, "...Wait, you said you couldn't see anything?"

"Yes, a side effect of the magic or something-" he paused, looking at Kuroh with surprise in his eyes, "You're not wearing any glasses."

Kuroh shook his head, "Maybe it's a difference in who cast the magic? Ichigen-sama never told me that my vision would be affected and it wasn't affected. I could see perfectly fine when I got out of the water. I also knew how to walk nearly instantly, like he had let me know instinctively through the magic."

"What a difference in the quality of magic," Saruhiko mumbled bitterly as he clicked his tongue.

"Who transformed you anyways?"

"The Wtich."

"...Witch...?"

"The one that lives in the dead coral cave."

Kuroh's eyes widened, "I thought that was just a rumor!"

"Well, it's not."

"But..." Kuroh's expression turned into a worried one, "Did you trade something in for it?"

Saruhiko shook his head, "He said he'll do it for free."

"That's not how the story usually goes," Kuroh commented and Saruhiko shrugged. It already happened, he didn't particularly care about why or how. "Wait, why were you looking for a Homra soldier to begin with?"

Saruhiko fell silent.

"Did you meet them before?"

More silence.

"Oh no, did the human steal something from you? They can't know the existence of Atlantis! ...Actually, does the people of Scepter4 know?" Kuroh couldn't even consider the fact that anything related to Saruhiko had to do with _love_.

"Ah, not really. Only that one...er, soldier who found me on the beach knows. But it seemed like he knew from the start."

"Meaning he was one of us?"

"I haven't asked, it's possible."

Kuroh nodded, thinking carefully, "Can I meet him?"

Saruhiko hesitated, "... I don't know, you'll have to ask him." He quickly added, "I'll put in a word for you."

"Okay," Kuroh said, letting the matter drop, "About this human..." It was very clear that Saruhiko didn't want to talk about this, but Kuroh was going to get to the bottom of this matter, "Does he know about Atlantis."

"No."

"How did you meet him?"

"I saved him from drowning."

"Why?"

"...Because he was going to die?"

"When did you first meet him?"

"A couple years ago," Saruhiko was beginning to feel like he was being questioned about his first boyfriend and Kuroh was his mother.

"How many times have you met up?"

"About three."

"I don't understand. The Saruhiko I know wouldn't bother saving just anyone."

"Well..." Saruhiko's voice trailed off. He didn't really have the heart to explain...

"And he's a stranger too."

This was getting highly uncomfortable and Saruhiko wished he had an excuse to leave the room.

"I think I'll ask Ichigen-sama," Kuroh said as he glanced at the door to make sure no one was peeking in. He wouldn't know if someone was to burst in, but it didn't hurt to take a look in caution.

"Wait, what-? He's dead-"

Kuroh pulled out the recorder and pressed the play button, "Love comes in many forms."

There was a thick silence in the room for the next five minutes before both boys spoke at the same time.

"You're in love with a human?!"

"You carry around a voice recording of your dead foster father?!"

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room again.

Kuroh cleared his throat, "Ichigen-sama's wisdom is gold. So of course I have to keep a voice recording of as many of his sayings as possible." That topic was clearly closed for discussion, "You're in love with a human?!"

"I wouldn't call it love-"

"That's ridiculous! You know it's not possible for a merman to love a human! ...Of course, maybe it is now that you are a human, but that's beside the point! Humans are vile and dangerous creatures and if they discover our existence, it'll be the end of Atlantis. And if you're going to have a human as a lover, you'll undoubtly have to let them know about your past at some point!" Kuroh paused for a breath, "And why a soldier?!"

"I didn't know he was going to be a-"

"And one from Homra! What are you thinking? They're a violent bunch of rebels who only care for those of their own clan!"

"Well..." Saruhiko couldn't disagree with that. Misaki _is_ violent and he _does_ care a lot for his clan.

Kuroh sighed, his anger having dissipated after yelling at Saruhiko, "I don't know how to deal with this, Ichigen-sama-" he reached into his pocket again and was about to pull out the recorder when Saruhiko spoke up.

"Forget it, I'll sort out my problems on my own," he said quickly, hoping he didn't have to relive the creepiness of Kuroh taking advice through a recorder of their dead foster father. "What about you?" he asked, "Why are you here?"

"Ichigen-sama sent me. He told me to look for the Silver King."

"...Silver...King?"

Kuroh nodded, "Like the Red King, Blue King, and Gold King. Except he's been hiding for a really long time. Not even the people of the Silver Clan knows where he's gone."

"Why?"

"Ichigen-sama didn't tell me the details. He said that I needed to hurry to prevent a certain tragedy."

The conversation didn't amount to much after that and after another half an hour of idle chatting, Kuroh said he had to return to Usagi. The moment the two boys got up from their seats, the door to the room opened and Seri appeared. She was ordered to see Kuroh out to make sure there was no trouble.

Saruhiko was about to follow them out when he noticed Reisi had been standing behind a nearby pillar, "Are you hiding?" he asked the Scepter4 general.

"Huh?" he seemed startled.

"Why won't you let Kuroh see you?"

"...Complicated story," Reisi said, tilting his glasses and turning to walk away.

"Why? You were once a merman, too, weren't you?"

Reisi nodded slowly, "Yes..."

"Did the witch change you too? You have eyesight problems as well."

"No," he answered as they came to a stop in front of Saruhiko's room, "It was...done on impulse so it wasn't very proper. As a result, the magic wasn't as complete as King Ichigen's."

Saruhiko didn't quite understand, he didn't wield any magic so he didn't understand how it worked.

"Also, King Habari wants to talk with you tonight about joining the Scepter4 army."

"Your dad?"

Reisi frowned, "Just because he's the King and I'm the Prince doesn't make us father and son."

"Does he know about..."

"You being a merman? Yes and considering he's dealt with me before, he understands. He'll let you stay if you join us."

Saruhiko hesitated. If he joined, what would Misaki think? He'd be _lying_ to Misaki. Misaki will _hate_ him. However, if he refused and they kick him out of the palace, Saruhiko would be penniless. He wouldn't be able to find a way to Homra, to Misaki. There was no magic mirror that could teleport him to Misaki. Hell, he'd be lucky if manages to make it out alive in Scepter4. He could ask Kuroh for help, but he'd need the people at the palace to make those kinds of arrangements. It was clear they won't help him if he declined the offer to join the army.

_Misaki will hate me_, those words rang in his head as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. _Misaki will hate me_, he repeated to himself, but I can't stand to lose him when I'm finally here. "I'll join. I'll let him know that tonight," he answered.

"Good," Reisi smiled, not knowing about the thoughts that had just ran through Saruhiko's mind, "I'll ask someone to let you know when it's dinnertime." He turned and walked down the long corridor, disappearing from view.

_Misaki will hate me, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him._

* * *

"Misaki, you're soaking wet!" his mother exclaimed when he walked through the front door.

"Sorry," he mumbled as his mother went to the bathroom and returned with a towel to dry his hair. When he returned to the store, he apologized for being late, but the owner had already unloaded and moved everything inside because of the coming storm.

"You don't have to come back tomorrow," the owner had said. They found him unreliable on the first day and he was getting fired. This would make finding a stable job harder now.

"What are you apologizing for?" his mother asked as she ushered her son into the bathroom, "Go take a shower. I'll start preparing dinner soon!"

"Right, thanks, Mother," he felt like he was in a daze. The entire time he was in the shower he just kept replaying the past hour's events in his head.

His pre-determined notion of the people of Scepter4 was fading, being overlapped by the image of Saruhiko. _Scepter4 are a bunch of assholes who only care about their own form of justice_, one that they'll force upon everyone. That was the ideal that he was taught back when he was still in training. They were taught that the enemy were evil and terrible things will happen if they lose this war. And Misaki believed that. He ate up every single word because it only reinforced what he knew when he was a child. _Scepter4 is evil, they killed father and big brother_. His second oldest brother told him that.

And then...Saruhiko.

A Scepter4 uniform, he saved Misaki from drowning. What Blue would do that? Even if he didn't know that Misaki was a soldier, he had saved what was clearly a Homra citizen. _They're not that heartless_, he realized. On top of that, Saruhiko had _kissed_ him. Kissed him! Sure it was on the forehead, but what Scepter4 soldier would kiss a Homra soldier?! The idea sounded... impossible.

"Shiiiiit!" Misaki yelled as he was tempted to smash his head into the tiled walls. Instead, he crouched down and tried to hide in the water, making himself as small as possible. _Why did he kiss me? This is embarrassing!_

"Misaki, are you alright?" his mother called from outside.

"I'm alright, Mom," he yelled back as he stood up from the tub again. "Shit," he repeated in a mumble as his cheeks turned red.

He realized something, _he didn't dislike the kiss._

* * *

"Where are you going?" Reisi's voice floated in from the doorway.

"Visiting someone," Saruhiko answered as he finished buttoning his shirt and rolling up his sleeves. This time he was dressed in a white shirt and dark dress pants, not making the same mistake of showing up in uniform again.

"The one in Homra?"

Saruhiko nodded.

"Fine, don't take the whole day," Reisi said and left.

Saruhiko was actually surprised that Reisi allowed him to use the mirror so easily. He assumed it had something to do with the 'favorite' thing some of the servants in the palace were talking about. Either way, he didn't question it. It was better to use it to his advantage.

"Take me to Misaki," he said and a ripple passed through the mirror. It unraveled itself into strands of silvery liquid that reached out and grabbed hold of Saruhiko, pulling him into the glass. As soon as the last piece of Saruhiko had disappeared into its glassy surface, it stopped, seemingly a normal mirror again.

Inside the mirror, Saruhiko found himself in a foggy white space this time. "So it changes every time? Tsk," he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he found the fog separating itself into what appeared to be an endless passage. He followed it down and before long, he felt the heat of the sun on his skin.

He heard a soft thud and an once bitten apple rolled to his feet.

"Where did you come from?" Misaki's voice was filled with bewilderment.

They were standing on a grassy field with some trees in the distance surrounding them. Behind Misaki was a wooden cabin and next to him was a basket full of apples.

"Misaki!" Saruhiko wasted no time tackling the shorter boy in a hug.

"Uwaahhh...!" Misaki lost his footing. He had been surprised enough by Saruhiko's sudden appearance and there was no way he could've anticipated the hug. In his attempt to regain his balance, he accidentally kicked the basket of apples upward, "Shit!" he yelled as the apples were tossed into the sky and began raining down on the two.

"Ouch!" Saruhiko hissed as he raised himself off Misaki and picked up one of the apples which hit him on the head, "What are these?" They certainly didn't exist underwater. Misaki had been eating them, right? Curious, he brought one to his lips.

"Apples!" Misaki yelled as he snatched the apple out of Saruhiko's hand pushed the other boy off. "Haven't you seen one before? Either way, you can't eat this, it's merchandise!"

"But you were just eating one Misaki-" hr dodged to the side as an apple came flying at his head.

"Shut up! And don't call me Misaki!" he continued gathering the apples and tossing them into the basket all the while mumbling about how they better not be bruised and how annoying it'd be if Saruhiko cost him another job.

"Of course, Mi-Sa-Ki," Saruhiko couldn't help taunting.

"Fucking monkey!" Misaki yelled as he threw another apple, this one Saruhiko caught and took a bite before Misaki could snatch it back. Hmm, it's tasty, very different taste from the fish and seaweed he always ate.

"Why are you here? Actually, how did you even get here? This time and last, you just appeared out of thin air!" Misaki questioned as he did his best to avoid looking at Saruhiko in the eye. He was feeling rather conflicted. He should be punching him, kicking him, pinning him down and arresting him, but Misaki couldn't bring himself to do so. Maybe it was the fact that Saruhiko was nothing like the Scepter4 soldiers he heard about and especially in those clothes, Saruhiko could pass for a Homra citizen.

Most of all, however, it was the butterflies in his stomach stopping him. The memories of Saruhiko saving him, the feelings when they talked, and when he kissed him. It may have been on the forehead, but that was the first time anyone other than his mother had kissed him. It was odd, strange, out of place, weird, _good_. Misaki felt his cheeks warm and he quickly turned around and pretended to look for the remaining imaginary apples on the ground, "Well, you gonna answer me?"

"You won't believe me," Saruhiko watched Misaki curiously. The redhead was acting so different from last time. Was it really the uniform? He wondered if he could go further, _like kiss him on the lips_. With mild amusement, he noticed that Misaki's ears were red.

"I can't say I've experienced a lot of impossible things, but I want to know," he gave up looking for imaginary apples and pushed the basket to the side.

"I came through a mirror."

"What?!" Misaki exclaimed as he turned around in shock. Everything he had been thinking of in the past few minutes disappeared as he looked at Saruhiko in shock, "Are you making fun of me?"

Saruhiko sighed, "If you aren't smart enough to tell the difference, there's no point in me explaining further."

"You fucking Monkey!"

The two of them squabbled for a little while, but thankfully didn't start fighting like last time. A good hour must've passed when Misaki remembered he still had a job to complete. "Aw man, I still gotta fill another five baskets. It shouldn't take too long. Wait here for me," Misaki said before turning to walk towards the apple trees in the distance.

Left alone, Saruhiko reflected on the other's words. He couldn't help but feel a sort of giddiness rise up in him. Misaki was paying attention to him! Misaki knows who he is! Misaki _wants_ him around. He was still filled with happiness when he noticed his arm had turned transparent.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance, it was time already? He looked at the trees, but Misaki was nowhere in sight and it was clear that it would take time to find the Homra soldier. _Stupid mirror,_ he thought bitterly and hoped that Misaki won't mind the fact that he had to leave without saying good bye. If he stayed for much longer, the path would close up.

With a disappointed look at the trees where Misaki had disappeared into, he turned to walk into a gap in the air visible to probably only him, Reisi, and Kuroh. Entering the gap, he was again greeted by the foggy whiteness and he followed a path before showing up in the Scepter4 palace.

* * *

"You have some nerve showing up again after you ditched me last time," Misaki grumbled poured a bucket of...things Saruhiko couldn't identify into a pig pen. The whole place stank.

When Saruhiko had shown up earlier, Misaki had been in the barn milking the cows and nearly kicked the bucket over when Saruhiko showed up behind him and blew on the nape of his neck.

"I had urgent business."

"Still rude," Misaki grumbled as he leaned forward so that his face was centimeters away from Saruhiko's. Saruhiko thought his heart stopped for a second.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize if you don't fucking mean it, Monkey!"

Saruhiko rolled his eyes, why did he like Misaki again? "I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

Saruhiko shrugged, "I can...teach you how to swim." Misaki tried to deck him and Saruhiko moved away just in time.

"Did you come here just to make fun of me?"

"Of course not," Saruhiko immediately said and pulled Misaki to stand in front of him, looking straight into the shorter boy's eyes, "Tell me, Misaki, do you remember anything about me?"

Misaki furrowed his eyebrows, the unsettling feeling of butterflies returning to his stomach. He had nearly forgotten about this feeling of awkward nostalgia, about the nervous cheek-warming thought of the kiss. But, that's right, Saruhiko is a part of Scepter4 and those words reminded Misaki of the fact."No," it was straight out denial, "I don't have memories of anyone who's a part of Scepter4."

"Misaki-"

"I told you not to call me that!" Misaki turned to walk away, but before he even took a step, hr found himself thrown to the ground with Saruhiko staring down at him, hands pinning his shoulders down, "What are you doing, Monkey? Get off me."

"Age nine, you fell into the river and we met for the first time."

"What are you saying? I wouldn't do something as stupid as falling into-"

"I saved you that day and we played by the beach," when Misaki didn't say anything, he continued,"You invited me to play again the next day. You promised we could keep playing together, but the next day you didn't show up. I couldn't find you for a really long time..." His voice trailed off, grip weakening against Misaki.

"Do you remember me?"

Misaki hesitated and Saruhiko couldn't help but feel his hopes rise. _He's considering the possibility_, he thought. However, as much as he wished for it, he knew the answer in the back of his mind. Yet, he felt the full impact of that one syllable.

"No."

* * *

Inside the Witch's underwater cave, he was grinning creepily from ear to ear. If he didn't look creepily enough from his curse, the smile he had on was making it worse. "One more, just one more!" he chanted to himself as he swam around in circles around the cave with glee.

His fox-like ears twitched when he heard the sound of a tail hitting the dead coral at the entrance of his cave. Immediately, he froze and he swam out as far as he could to greet the person who came to see him.

A wide eye merboy floated in front of the Witch, his mouth open and ready for a scream.

"Don't be scared," the Witch said to the boy as he swam around him, forcing him into the cave. " You're here for a wish, right?"

"Y-yes, I heard of you from-"

"I don't care where you heard of me, let me hear your wish."

The boy felt his heart threaten to jump out of his mouth, he had never felt so frightened in his entire life! In fact, he was about to regret coming here. It wasn't like he was going to die if his wish didn't get granted. He should turn back, leave because he's heard terrible fairy tales about the Witch anyways. "I...Um..." he hesitated, "It's okay! I changed my-"

The Witch suddenly lurched and the boy was pulled further into the cave, trapped by the Witch's body, "You poor, unfortunate soul~" the Witch hummed.

"Wh-what?"

"That boy in your class. Just because he's from a family of high class, he does whatever he wants with you."

The merboy clenched his fists and grit his teeth. Bull's eye. The Witch could only see so much about what goes on in the world with his limited magic, but it looks like Lady Luck was on his side with this case.

"He's terrible," the boy mumbled.

"Shh, it's okay," the Witch wrapped himself around the boy like a hug, "I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes, which is why I'll grant your wish."

"Really?" The Witch nodded, "Then, please, make him lose his status, have him be bullied like he did to me!"

The Witch grinned, looking eerier than before, "Of course~"

The Witch walked over to his cauldron and summoned the image of the boy's classmate. He mumbled a few words in a different language and sprinkled some sort of powder into the liquid. The image changed and showed the merboy's classmate suffering from poverty and scenes of him being bullied flashed across the liquid.

"Thank you," the boy smiled triumpantly.

"No, thank you," the Witch said with a dark chuckle.

"Huh?" The boy was confused as light glowed from the wall where the Witch's five hundred seventy-one legs were nailed to the wall. One by one, the legs were released from their concrete prison, freeing the Witch from his cave. The legs began surrounding the boy, wrapping him up and he let out a scream.

"Oh, scream all you want, it's too late!" the Witch laughed as his entire body wound itself against the merboy until he was suffocating within the Witch's body.

The light soon disappeared and the cave was still and silent. Somehow in the chaos, the Witch's magic 'lights' for the cave had turned off and disappeared. Slowly, the Witch's body fell to the floor of the cave, completely lifeless. It even started drifting about like a corpse in the sea.

The boy, however, stood still in the middle of the cave in a hunched position. Slowly, he lifted his head to reveal a large grin on his face. He snapped his fingers and the cave lit up once more, "Hahaha!" he laughed giddily as he swam across the cave, waving his arms wildly in excitement, "I'm free!"

After a few minutes, he stopped in front of the cauldron, "First thing's first, this appearance... Tsk." He pulled at the brown locks of hair and in an instant, they changed to a white color and became long, flowing down to his waist. His facial structure and eye color changed as well. Finally, his body shape turned into that of a grown merman.

"Now calculations," he snapped his fingers again and numbers appeared on the liquid surface, "My twin brother cursed me to a horrifying appearance and locked me in this cave for what happened to our sister. Tch, it wasn't my fault she died."

He was simply talking to himself now, "She wanted to see the world above, but you wouldn't let her. So she turned to me. Being your twin, I had the second most powerful magic in the family and I saw no harm in her wanting to see the world. So I gave her legs to walk with every night."

"She caught the interest of violent humans and was killed by them. You watched helplessly from your magic crystal, didn't you, Brother? You flew to her rescue,but it was too late."

"However, it was not without punishing me first. Locking away half my magic, changing my appearance and forcing me to stay here until I granted five hundred seventy-one wishes."

"You thought I would change by then or maybe you thought I'd never be able to do it. Whatever it might be. You even made things harder by telling a fairy tale where the first king of Atlantis had two beloved siblings. However, his younger brother was evil and wanted the throne so he plotted to break the older brother's heart. He lured their beautiful sister onto land where he killed her. The older brother was furious, but couldn't bring himself to kill his brother, cursing him to a cave for all eternity."

"Liar! You always lied ever since we were kids."

He paused, "but it's over now. I'll get back the magical power that I had given to people who came for wishes the past couple hundred years and I'll get my revenge." He smiled and turned back to the cauldron, looking at the numbers, "so four hundred fifty-three are dead and I'll have to visit their graves. That means one hundred thirteen are still in Atlantis and needs to be killed. Ohh, and one more." He grinned, "the last one I, the one and only Colorless King of Atlantis, have to kill to regain my power is on land, substitute-prince of Atlantis, Saruhiko Fushimi."

With one last evil cackle, the Witch, now a merman, left the cave in search of his first victim.

* * *

**OMG I typed like a good quarter of this on an iPad on vacation in Canada! I'm going to read it over and check for mistakes, but I can't promise this chapter to be free of typos. I'm typing it up in a gmail draft and it doesn't always save properly. Ofc, uploading to ff was another hell of it's own ):**

**On another note, the plot is picking up! I wanted to show more of Saru and Misaki's friendship, but the chapter was getting too long. I was going through a 'now kiss!' Kinda deal as I typed this. :T But, like, the mood was wrong. Or Misaki would beat the shit outta Saru if he did. Haha. ...SOON.**

**Btw, I have no clue what time period this is anymore. It was set in the Middle Ages-ish until Misaki's house got a shower and Kuroh has a voice recorder! It's um...a different world, so it's okay! (Lol?) it was also strangely hard to write Kuroh here. It was hard to come up with sayings for his recorder and idk how Kuroh would talk with Saruhiko. I mean, they never did in the anime...? .~.**

**One last interesting thing: I saw a red and blue clan sword of Damocles in a mall in Toronto. Pretty cool, 'crept it was thirteen bucks and a bit too pricy for someone who doesn't usually wear necklaces.**

**As always, thanks so much for reading! (Woah, this is the longest chapter I've...ever done o.o 6k+ words.**


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